The culture of jade is a very significant and indispensable component of Chinese culture. The early records of jade in China can be dated back to the Stone Age. Therefore the Theme system of jade is incredibly rich in China. Below is a brief view of some typical Theme genres in jade jewelries and carvings.
1. Auspicious Jade Themes:
Chinese Dragon, phoenix, auspicious cloud, LingZhi, and RuYi are the most often used ones. For example:
Theme: Chinese dragon and phoenix: Chinese believe the Dragon is the king of animals and the phoenix the queen of birds. They used to fight each other, but since the dragon won and married phoenix then the whole world started to enjoy the peace and prosperity for generations. Dragon and phoenix also represents...

Due to different jade polishing techniques, the luster of jade art craft will last differently. Poorly made ones will lose their luster after 1-2 years or sooner.
In terms of maintenance, you should dust your jade art craft with a duster often. Then wipe the jade with sheepskin. If the ambient humidity is quite low, then wipe the jade with a soft wet cloth to increase the surface moisture.
Don’t put the jade craft under the direct sunlight or spotlight too long. The heat will dry out the moisture of the jade and cause fine cracks.
To take good care of your jade jewelry or artcraft collection, there are following principle to follow:
Avoid hitting with other hard substance. Even if the hardness of jade is higher than normal stone, while sudden hit might cause...

Due to the cherished value of jade and advanced modern technology, the techniques of faux or fake jade are becoming more and more mature. This article will give you a brief picture of the faux jade family and some practical methods to identify them and thus give you a method of tell the real jade from the fake ones.
Faux jade is often made by plastic, colored glass, marble, plating stone, jade powder, and crystal plus brine etc. Due to different content, the identification methods are also different.
Plastic：lighter than jade, worse in hardness and transparency, duller color tone.
Colored glass: usually you can find some babbles inside, bright color and shiny.
Plating stone: a bad quality jade stone is plated with a layer of nice green cover to mislead the...

According to modern mineralogy, the term jade applies to two different rocks, Nephrite and Jadeite. However, jade stone definitely has broader meaning.
Jade has many different interpretations due to different eras and different disciplines. The ancient definition of jade is very vague and broad. In China, jade in ancient literature was defined as “the elites in all the stones can be called as Jade” (“Shuo Wen”-Xu Shen Donghan Dynasty). A great numbers of jade art crafts in ancient literature are actually not real jade according to the strict definition of jade in the scope of modern mineralogy. Especially, modern archaeologists are still applying the ancient definition to the excavation findings. So don’t be surprised when you see some stone-like jade...

The 11.5-kilogram green rock was billed as the world’s largest emerald and dubbed Teodora, a name that derives from Greek and means “gift from god.”
The emerald, however, may not quite be the $1-million-plus stone its purported owner Regan Reaney promoted it as.
A Jan. 20 report in industry publication National Jeweler in the United States was skeptical of the “emerald.”
To be 100 per cent certain the rock is an emerald, a gemologist can undertake “destructive testing,” chipping off a piece to assess the innards of the stone. Mr. Reaney reportedly refused this.
The Gemological Institute of America would not certify a rock like Mr. Reaney’s as an emerald, because it was acknowledged to be at least partially dyed.
At best, if the institute found some...

220 million yuan! The most expensive Jade auction in 2011, the Han jade dresser and stool, has sparked a heated debate. According to media reports earlier said the CNS in the Beijing International Auction Co., Ltd. held the “2011 special auction of ancient jade”, the “Han Qing Huang Yulong phoenix dresser(with stool),” starting with 180 million yuan, and ultimately to 2.2 billion deal, became the most expensive jade auction last year.
Of course the most expensive jade auction created a huge buzz, however, very soon it turned into a biggest joke.
I was so shocked when I saw this picture, because there is no way to date any stool back to Han Dynasty (202 BC-9 AD) when Han Chinese considered the only polite way to sit is sitting on the...

Under the significant influence of my Grandpa an eminent collector in China, I started MingJade.com to share what I learned since I was a baby, and my life long passion. Lot of things happened in the last few years. Career change, moving, marriage, baby…it seems all kinds of excuses for me to halt my beloved blogs :).
Among all the life changes I’ve been receiving very warm and encouraging letters from my fans all over the world. Same time Google Analytics also told me MingJade had around 18,000 visitors in last few years. I felt so guilty not to continue writing!
Thank you all the friends around the world for all the support ! No more excuses, I’m back and will definitely keep on writing!
Very Sincerely,
Lily
Tweet